Impact of Poor Study Habits on Students’ Academic Achievement

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Education is the development in itself and as such, focuses on how to manage or lessen dependency on others and improve the condition of living of such individuals says Lehart (1979). Anyanwu (1987) stated that it is through education that the level of consciousness of’ individual and the society is raised. He further says that education equip people with skills necessary for managing, sustaining and increasing the quality of lives of individual and the society at large. An individual who will be well integrated into the society must have good study habits, which will make such individual achieve good and adequate education.

Study habit has been defined and explained in different ways by many scholars. The ideas that feature in all the works could give a summary which will make one define study habit as a constant or consistent pattern of study which individual has adopted over a long period of time. Study habits are well planned and deliberate pattern of study which has attained a form of consistency on the part of the students towards understanding academic subjects and passing the examination (Bashir & Mattoo, 2012). Study habit can also mean consistent, systematic and conscious tasks aimed at acquiring specific knowledge items meant to achieve certain goals. The type of study habits that an individual adopts will determine the study skills such would possess. Therefore it is necessary to say that study habits can be a desirable one (good) and undesirable (poor) one.  Good study habits and environment should prevail among the schools, and school students are continuously faced with the problem of mass failure, poor school grades and incessant repetitions, and thus subsequent withdrawals from school.Desirable study habits include, Giving prompt attention to assignment and homework, Making up for lessons missed in school, Giving adequate attention to class room -activities, Spending extra time at home to go through class activities, Seeking teachers assistance when necessary, Having high concentration level when reading and Making use of textbooks and other learning materials to Support classroom works while studying.

The opposite of all that have been discussed above as desirable stud habits will automatically mean undesirable Study habits.

The effects of poor study habits are glaring in the various f6rins of examination malpractice being witnessed in various facets of educational system in Nigeria. The standard of academic achievement by most students has dropped drastically. Those students who are still Studying hard these days are children from well-disciplined and Godly homes. The effects of poor study habits are glaring in the attitude and various activities or students when writing externals examinations like WAEC, G.C.E., JAMB etc. These examinations are highly characterized by examinational practice.

There has been an increase in the level of poor study habits exhibited by students in the recent times. A large proportion of students indulge in poor study habits without due cognizance of the consequence of’ such habits on their future achievement and the society at large. Garuba (1995) says education is a deliberate planned and systematic process of effecting a permanent change in the behavior of human beings, which are necessary-for full integration of such individual into the society. Anyone who is not well educated cannot be fully integrated into the society. It means such individual cannot contribute positively to his personal life and the society at large. Such individual will even become a threat and nuisance to self and the society. Full integration that can make individual to function meaningfully in the society can only be a product of sound education via good study habit.

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There is no shortcut to academic achievement other than hard and adequate study. Poor study habits imply poor study habits. The only way to achieve academic achievement is to develop good study habits.  Improvement of study habits of the students is necessary so that they perform well in their studies. Bajwa and Jindail (2005) concluded that there is significant difference between high Socio-economic Status and low Socio-economic Status on the variable of under achievement. Bhan and Gupta (2010) examined study habits and academic achievement among the students belonging to Schedule Caste and non-Schedule Caste group. The result revealed that sex has no significant impact on the academic achievement of students.

The majority of students in Nigeria nowadays are considered to have bad study habits. They do not study enough to attain outstanding academic success in life. Exam misconduct in many forms, which is prospering in all parts of our educational system, is rapidly destroying the spirit of excellent study practices. Students are disinclined to study hard again since the alternate way of academic accomplishment, test fraud, is rapidly gaining traction in Nigeria. Poor study habits are issues that pose a significant risk to the nation’s growth. If bad study habits continue, it simply implies that our country’s future leaders will be half-baked and substandard. It is an undeniable reality that a nation full of mediocre people cannot effectively flourish economically, socially, politically, or in other realms of human endeavor. Upon this premise this study seeks to examine the impact of poor study habits on students’ academic achievement.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The broad objective of this study is focused on the impact of poor study habits on students’ academic achievement. Specifically, the study seeks to:

i.          To investigate pointers/ variables of good study habits formation

ii.        To examine various factors that have contributed to poor study habits among student

iii.      To establish  the effects of poor study habits on individual and the nation.

iv.      To ascertain whether poor study habit significantly impact student academic achievement

 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following tentative statement guides the study

HO1:  There is no significant effects of poor study habits on individual and the nation.

HO2:  Poor study habit does not significantly impact student academic achievement

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant because good education is the bedrock of any success. An educated mind is the enlightened mind. We can not fold our hand and allow the educational standard in our nation to come to zero level, because there would not be any nation called Nigeria again. Other significance of this study include: It will expose to the authority, parents and students factors that are responsible for steady increase in poor study habits,It will show the effects of Poor academic achievement on the overall development of individual and nation at large, It is also meant to create platform upon which to make necessary corrections and adjustments in the educational policy and their implementation. Empirically, the study willa dd to the body of existing literature and serve as reference material to scholars and student who wishes to conduct further studies in related topic.

 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study borders on impact of poor study habits on students’ academic achievement.  The study is however delimited to selected secondary schools in Lafia Local government in Nassarawa State.

  LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

It is possible that the report of this study may suffer some weakness in sampling. Also there may be other factors like culture, orientation and values in some areas that may affect the generalization of conclusion drawn from this study to the whole country.

The application of the questionnaire was aimed at obtaining some ideas about the current situation that can represent the generality of the students in Nigeria. It is a well-known fact that study habits of students in secondary schools in Lafia Local government in Nassarawa State. may vary along so many factors like socio-economic educational and family constellation of students among others. Due to time and financial constraints this research used only three schools in the local government area of study, therefore the results, conclusions, Suggestions and recornmendations that emanated from this study will be based on the data that was generated from the sample used for this study.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Study Habits: Charles (2000) explained study habits to mean constellation of skills involved in the process of learning materials. For the purpose of this study, study habits will be defined as consistent pattern of studying which individual has adopted over a period of time.

Academic Performance: Chase (1979) says that academic performance means assessing performance of individual or group with a set standard of performance which either makes the performance of individual assessed poor or good. Academic performance will also be defined as the performance of’ students in academic endeavor, which could be good or bad.

Academic Achievement: Meherens & Lehmann (1978) defined academic achievement as degree of learning achieved by students after exposure to planned instruction and training. Perino (2006) defined academic achievement as measure of what individual has learned that is the present level of academic performance. For the purpose of this study academic achievement will be defined as amount of academic knowledge attained by individual through exposure to formal and informal education.